CORAL GABLES — Ray-Ray Armstrong began his next chapter in football this afternoon far from where the last one ended.

The former Miami Hurricane practiced with NAIA Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., after his messy break-up with UM. After threatening a lawsuit against Miami, Armstrong briefly touched on his last stop in an interview with one of my former papers, the Montgomery Advertiser.

“I made some bad decisions (at Miami), but I want to focus on the future,” Armstrong told the Advertiser. “What’s done is done. That’s in the past. I’m focused on Faulkner University.”

You can read the rest of the story by clicking here. You’ll see a photo of the former top recruit in his new uniform. Armstrong practiced Wednesday as he awaits an eligibility ruling from the NAIA clearinghouse. He was admitted to the school Tuesday after moving north over the weekend.

CORAL GABLES — Good morning, sports fans. It’s practice time in Coral Gables once again and there’s news to report. Let’s cut to the chase.

Receivers drill Wednesday morning (Sun Sentinel photo)

Defensive end Anthony Chickillo was practicing in a yellow jersey for limited contact. He said he had a stomach flu. Coach Al Golden said he heard something about a sinus infection. Bottom line: he isn’t feeling well, but was out there with the team in spite of it.

Also in injury news, Golden said backup middle linebacker Raphael Kirby’s injury will not require surgery, but will take him out of the action for a while. He’s confident Kirby will be on the fast end of the doctor’s expected return date scale.

Starting middle linebacker Denzel Perryman on Kirby’s injury: “I just told him to hold his head up. We’ll hold it down for him until he gets back.”

Perryman said there’s a certain level of frustration with all the injuries the unit has suffered in camp.

The ‘Canes had a special teams scrimmage in the Tuesday afternoon practice. He said freshmen Malcolm Lewis and Duke Johnson had kick return touchdowns. Punter Dalton Botts also looked strong, Golden said.

Not many college kids have first names like Thurston Armbrister. The Miami linebacker told the story behind the name this morning. Yes, he’s named after Thurston Howell III of Gilligan’s Island.

Armbrister also said the plays with a chip on his shoulder since he was so lightly recruited coming out of high school. Read more later about his speedy rise up the linebacker depth chart after transitioning from the defensive backfield.

Defensive tackle Olsen Pierre responded to Golden’s call for better play in the defensive interior. ”We just have to come out and work harder. Every day we have to come out as one line, one unit because we’re going to be tired sometimes. But I think we’re starting to get it.”

There were only a few black shirts out there again on defense today. “I hope the jersey isn’t the ultimate motivation,” Golden said. “For us it signifies, if you have a black jersey, that we think you can go in and play at a championship level on a first-team defense. Certainly it signifies something, but if they’re only motivated by the jersey, we have the wrong guys in the locker room.”

As always, we invite you to respond. Post a comment below and respond to others.

CORAL GABLES — Quarterback competitions crank out two byproducts. There’s a starter and the guy who narrowly missed out. Stephen Morris, of course, was left wearing the crown while Ryan Williams settled into the V.P. role.

He’s disappointed, but not dejected. Less than 12 hours after the news went public, Williams spoke with reporters before Tuesday’s practice. The Miramar product was candid talking about the competition.

First, did he think there was any shot of wrestling this away from Morris?

“I don’t know if I can win it in camp, but I’m still going to be fighting for it every day and pushing Stephen to get better,” Williams said.

The reason Morris won the job?

“His feel for the offense,” Williams said. “He ran it last year so he knows exactly what coach Fisch wants. He has great physical ability. His arm is huge and he’s very mobile so he can do a lot of the things I probably can’t do running the ball-wise.”

Now that it’s over, what did he think went wrong?

“There were a couple of throws I missed, a couple of reads earlier in camp,” Williams said. “Maybe I was a little nervous when we first started camp, but I think I relaxed and got into a groove. … There a couple times where you just feel like, ‘Well, that might have been the play that really set us apart or that could have been the deciding factor.’”

What are your final thoughts now that Morris was named the starter? Post a comment below.

Read more about all of this in tomorrow’s edition of the Sun Sentinel. Buy one!

CORAL GABLES — In the special teams world, the punters and kickers get all the glory (or scrutiny). The one name you know the least typically belongs to the guy who starts the special teams play. He’s the long snapper. Can you name Miami’s?

Well, Sean McNally owns the highly specialized, but rarely recognized job. But it’s his backup that’s most notable because of his other job. Safety A.J. Highsmith moonlights as a second-string long snapper in an unconventional second job.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” the defensive back said when he saw the printed depth chart.

But he’s actually been doing it for a while. His grandfather was an offensive lineman, so Highsmith learned the art of firing a perfect spiral between his legs at a young age.

He’s hoping to see the field at some point on the punt team. His reasoning has less to do with the first part of the job than the second.

“Yeah, a lot of people don’t block (the long snapper) so hopefully I can get down there and make a tackle,” he said.

CORAL GABLES — For the first time this August, Miami right tackle Seantrel Henderson practiced in a helmet and shoulder pads. He was doing full contact drills in Practice 13 after missing the first 12 with a concussion suffered in an Aug. 1 car accident

Seantrel Henderson (77) in full pads for the first time. (Sun Sentinel photo)

But he has a long way to go before earning his starting job back. True freshman Ereck Flowers continues to impress at right tackle and Henderson wasn’t even listed as the back-up in Monday night’s depth chart.

“He’s got to get going,” coach Al Golden said. “The issue is not really about how I feel, the issue is there aren’t as many opportunities anymore to compete. If they are going to make it, it’s going to be because either somebody screws up or somebody gets injured and now you get your opportunity.

“It’s hard for me to say Seantrel, with no practices, can perform better than Ereck Flowers and Jermaine Johnson. It’s hard for anybody to say that. He needs to go perform. Flowers is playing really well right now — so well that he’s beating out Jermaine Johnson who is having a great camp.”

Henderson will miss more practice time this week. Golden said he expects him to leave for Minnesota tonight for another funeral.

CORAL GABLES — It was all depth chart talk this morning before Miami’s first practice since last night’s update. Nearly everybody involved in the high-profile competitions spoke before the 8:20 a.m. workout.

Coach Al Golden said there are no games being played to motivate players.

Offensive line practices (Sun Sentinel photo)

“I’m not one of those ploy guys,” Golden said. “It is what it is. The problem is we have guys who think it is something that it isn’t. ‘Oh they’re going to play me anyway.’ It’s really not. As we coaches, this is Practice 13. We’re settling in now. If guys aren’t ready by Saturday, if guys aren’t making moves by Saturday, it’s over. After that, it’s time to move. We’re really not into playing games. You guys ask a lot of questions about a lot of guys that … we coach the guys who are out here every day and the guys who are dependable and reliable. That’s who we want to play with.”

On the quarterbacks, Golden said a large part of the decision to start Stephen Morris was made after Sunday’s scrimmage. Both Golden and offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch said this is a final decision and Morris will start over Ryan Williams against Boston College in the Sept. 1 opener.

A few other notes:

Though there are 11 defensive starters, only five wore the black first-team jerseys today. Cornerback Tracy Howard, who was a second-teamer on last night’s depth chart, still wore black. Also in black: Anthony Chickillo, Shayon Green, Ramon Buchanan, and Brandon McGee.

Chickillo appeared to be injured early in the media viewing period of practice. No word on what happened exactly.

Defensive tackle Dequan Ivory was named a starter, but the true freshman still has a lot of work to do. Golden wants to see more from the veterans on the interior defensive line. “They need to make a play now.” He’ll start an inexperienced player who might screw up occasionally if the older guys can’t step up.

Linebacker Thurston Armbrister, a newly named starter, was back on the field after missing a few practices with an injury.

Linebacker Gionni Paul, who also missed several practices last week, was back on the field today.

The bad news on the linebacker front? Backup middle linebacker Raphael Kirby “got banged up in the scrimmage,” Golden said and did not practice Tuesday. “As soon as we find out what his status is, we’ll release that. That’s all I can say right now,” Golden said.

Jimmy Gaines “will have a dual role” at inside and outside linebacker.

Golden had the quote of the day talking about one freshman linebacker. “Gabe Terry is going to be a football player. He doesn’t know if the ball is stuffed or pumped, but he flies around. He plays with energy. He’s relentless in pursuit. Again, he needs to start to understand and be consistent and learn the defense and always be in the right position.” Terry was listed as backup outside linebacker, but Golden said he’d find a way to get him on special teams.

On freshman wide receiver Robert Lockhart: “He has to pick up the offense better. Robert is talented. Robert is going to be a good player. Everybody learns at different speeds, different levels and everybody makes an impact at different times. We just have to get Robert gradually trending towards making an impact for the team.” Lockhart didn’t make a catch in the scrimmage and wasn’t listed on the depth chart after earning strong reviews early in camp.

On Seantrel Henderson, Golden said he wasn’t listed on the depth chart even as the backup at right tackle because he has not practiced at full speed. Henderson was out there for the first time today in full gear, but he’s leaving for Minnesota again tonight to attend another funeral.

Update 11:11 a.m. Tuesday: Miami just sent out a correction on the depth chart. Defensive tackle Dequan Ivery was incorrectly listed as the starting defensive tackle. He is third string at one of the tackle positions while Olsen Pierre is the starter at the other. See the corrected version below if that was confusing.

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CORAL GABLES — Al Golden just released the second depth chart of the year. There’s a No. 1 quarterback on there. New starters are italicized. Here is the complete listing.

CORAL GABLES — The University of Miami just released its complete 2012-13 non-conference basketball schedule. You knew there were some quality home dates coming up. Now you know the details. Here’s the complete schedule with home games bolded:

The numbers are in, though the doors were closed. Miami just released a few details from today’s scrimmage that was not open to reporters or the public. Here are the numbers courtesy of UM media relations. More details to come. Keep in mind this was not played like a traditional 4-quarter game. There were situational elements added in that can skew the numbers.

A few observations:

RB Duke Johnson was the third leading rusher, but had the most receiving yards.

QB Stephen Morris threw more than twice as many passes as Ryan Williams.